Quintessence 空
by Rachelle Lo
Summary: The Five Elements Challenge. Air 風, Fire 火, Earth 地, Water 水, Quintessence 空.  His home was burning around him…The smoke was everywhere, but that was manageable, because Artemis didn't need to breathe at this point; he just needed the twins out.
1. Air

**A/N: This is a set of related one-shots, set in chronological order, written as a Five Elements Challenge. Some are sad, some bittersweet, and some will have you rolling your eyes at the ridiculously cliche predictability of it all.**

* * *

Quintessence

空

Part One: Air

風

* * *

His home was burning around him.

The scent stuck in his nostrils, the dead, blackened smell of burnt timber and melted metal and singed hair. He hoped it would come out eventually. And then he hoped that _they_ could come out.

"Quick," he coughed. He had one hand on each of his little twin brother's backs, steering them toward the way out of the burning manor. Beckett and Myles stumbled a bit and cried out occasionally, but Artemis was reasonably certain that they weren't injured. Or at least not as injured as he himself was.

_Don't think about it. Don't think about the gash. Just get out. Just get out. Just get the twins out…_

He repeated the mantra, over and over. He'd repeat it until they reached sunlight.

Myles collapsed when they were nearly out. Artemis could hardly walk on his own, and the deep gash in his side didn't help, but he picked up the little boy and carried him.

_Just get the twins out…_

The smoke was everywhere, but that was manageable, because Artemis didn't need to breathe at this point; he just needed the twins out. Some rafters and walls were falling at dangerous crisscross angles. And the flames would probably be permanently burned into his retinas.

_Just get the twins out._

Beckett collapsed. Artemis picked him up, too. Couldn't breathe. No air.

_Just get the twins out._

His brilliant mind was dimming. The mantra continued. Didn't need to breathe. Twins.

_Twins. _

No air. Didn't breathe. Twins.

When he reached the sunlight, a different kind of fire, he collapsed with his brothers, careful to fall to the side so the twins landed on top of him. He hardly felt it when they fell on top of the gash in his side and his breathing hitched spasmodically. He hardly felt it when delicate, gloved elfin hands pulled them the rest of the way out of the manor, to lay them on the ground. All that mattered was: They could breathe the clean air again.

Breathing in…out…everything was silent except for that.

A pair of mismatched eyes hovered in front of his blurry vision, frantically trying to say something, and then against his will, his eyes slowly closed.

* * *

Some time later, Artemis twisted his head to the side with effort, bony jaw line angled sharply, and found himself looking upward into Juliet's face. She was covered in soot and sweat, too, but at least she could stand, so she couldn't be badly hurt…but her face had a pained twist…

"…one else?" he mumbled. His tongue kept failing him mid-word, and he felt a sensation of being carried above the ground, swaying in the air—a stretcher?

"Domov…my paren…" The rest was a breath.

There didn't seem to be enough air to breathe, now. Something besides smoke and ash was constricting his chest.

"Oh, Artemis," Juliet whispered, and closed her eyes.


	2. Fire

**A/N: Wish me a happy birthday! It's coming up soon! I bet you all know what I want. . .**

* * *

Fire

火

* * *

**I.**

Holly held his hand gently, gently, like a fragile bird that might break any second.

He looked pitiful, with his hair burnt and his skin raw underneath the black ash. Artemis was still lying on the stretcher, still as death, taken a safe distance away from the fire. His eyes were closed.

The twins were reasonably healthy, they hadn't even needed stretchers. Artemis would be relieved at that when he woke up, he'd given so much to keep them safe. She'd watched him carry the twins out, collapsing in the end, and Holly had carefully dragged him the rest of the way out.

His fingers twitched, slightly. She adjusted her hold.

An elfin medic tested his vitals and fitted him with an oxygen mask. He carefully cut open Artemis' shirt, and let out a soft whistle.

"What?" Holly demanded. "What is it?" She leaned forward over Artemis' prone body, still holding his hand, and hissed softly. There was a deep gash in his side.

"That's not a normal cut," the medic said, beginning to probe around the edges with gloved fingers.

At the touch, Artemis stiffened, and Holly squeezed his fingers.

"Yep, just what I thought," the medic said grimly, and reached inside the cut. Holly nearly jumped up—_sticking fingers into other people's insides!_—but concentrated on holding Artemis' hand as he let out a soft groan.

Artemis relaxed infinitesimally as the medic pulled out his hand, holding up the unmistakable shape of a bullet shard.

**

* * *

**

**II.**

Juliet sat to the side, with a blank look on her face. She held a twin in her lap, Beckett, while Myles was allowed to wander and look in wonder at the elven medical teams scurrying around the burning Manor. Eventually, Myles made his way back to Juliet, sitting down beside her in the grass, under the oak tree, and taking her other hand. Beckett played with a strand of Juliet's wispy blond hair, and Myles drew line-pictures in the soot on her arms.

* * *

**III.**

There was a small fire burning in the center of his chest, and it somehow seemed larger than the fire taking his home.

It surprised him, somehow, that fairy medical teams were on the grounds of the burning Fowl Manor. Why would they help? He'd fallen out of favor. He was Artemis Fowl, the criminal, the distrusted friend of fairies.

_Except for one, _he thought, looking down.

"Artemis, sit down!" Holly said crossly, holding his elbow for stability. "The twins are fine, Juliet's with them, and you're in no condition to stand up!" She tugged at his elbow half-heartedly. Worry was plainly etched in her face.

"I'll sit down later," he said.

He couldn't believe a simple accident had caused this destruction, the fire. He wouldn't. Couldn't. And, of course, he had evidence to prove it. The evidence just so happened to be scarred in his chest.

"You had a bullet in you, Artemis! A _bullet! _Those cause a lot of damage!" Holly said shrilly. She had never, of course, seen a bullet wound, since fairies hadn't used them for...ever, really.

Artemis resisted the urge to make a sarcastic remark. The anger he felt, that fire in his chest, wasn't directed at _her. . ._She was his friend, one of the few he had, he would _not _alienate her... "I need to find the Commander," he said quietly.

"But..." Her words died away when she saw the look on his face. Holly supported him silently as he painfully limped over to where Commander Kelp and Vinyaya were standing.

* * *

**IV.**

"Teams 4 and 5, north and west perimeter!" Commander Kelp was shouting into a head-set. Vinyaya was shouting similar orders, only it was to her fleet in the sky, not the infantry. "2 and 3, south and east! If we hurry, people, we'll catch her before daylight!"

_"Catch who, Commander?"_

The voice was even and low, with a terrifying sort of calm that sent cold rivulets down Trouble's spine. He and Vinyaya shivered as one, and turned to the voice that was unmistakable. No one could, or ever would, forget the sound, or the eyes, of pale Artemis.

"Fowl," Vinyaya said stoically, turning toward him. "Should I call for the healers? I heard you were in need of medical attention." Her eyes roved the length of his body, taking in his burnt appearance, the loose button-up shirt through which bandages were visible, and most importantly, Holly standing at his elbow with concern and confusion visible on her face.

"I am," he said quietly. "But there's no need for healers at the moment."

He didn't look well at all, Trouble decided. Something in his eyes looked ill and dark.

"If there's something you need, say so," Vinyaya said impatiently, but not unkindly. "Our people are busy."

His head tilted to the side slightly, like he was listening to something no one else could hear. "I wonder," he began softly, "were you ever going to tell me? Did you think I didn't need to know? Or that I didn't already..."

"Fowl," Vinyaya said, and her lips were thin, "you've just had a shock, you may need—"

"I need _what, _precisely, Commander?" Artemis said, smiling mockingly. This was it, that fire that was building in his chest, that rage finally pouring out through the only way it could escape. . .Domovoi, his parents. . .the fire was building, and he couldn't bear it any longer. . . "I need medical attention? Need _morals_, a sense of honesty? Need to dispose of my _"ruthless drive for my own ends_," as I believe you called it last time we spoke, five months ago!" He let out a laugh, and felt Holly tighten her grip on his wrist.

Trouble tried. "Artemis—"

"Oh, first names now! Am I that dangerous, that you need to appease the ruthless human with platitudes? I _was incredibly_ surprised, when I managed out of my former home to find _fairies,_ of all things, on my front lawn." His voice was still quiet, but rising in intensity, and he was trying to control that fire—

"You believed me to be _dangerous, _a creature with no sense of right or wrong, am I correct? This is why you severed contact, refused advice, stripped communication, and threatened mind wipe! I managed to save _your People, _over and over again, through methods you thought of as uncivilized, unethical, '_human'_—but still I saved them, through methods that ended with minimal cost, less than the "traditional" means would have cost us!" His eyes were wide and pale, and he couldn't stop—

"Artemis Fowl!" Vinyaya said sharply, trying to shock him out of whatever state he was in. She'd never seen him like this before, even when angry.

A laugh. "My means are not _your _means, no matter how effective. When you see how much alike to our mutual _enemy"_—They both flinched, and he smiled—"it frightens you, doesn't it? But I have to think like them, and at some time or another I've been like them. The poisonous villains. How else could I counterattack? You need me, and then you condemn me for what I am."

"Artemis, what does this have to do with anything?" Holly breathed. It hurt, because she couldn't deny that what he said was true, although she'd never thought about it before. Who he was talking about wasn't _her _Artemis. Her Artemis...

Ignoring her, which was a kindness in his present state, Artemis continued: "I'm intelligent, whatever else you believe me to be, Commander! Did you think I wouldn't _notice, _even when you tried to sever any communication with me, that after a few months, my surveillance, by all appearances, ceased? For all anybody would know, it seemed I'd fallen out of favor with the fairies, and now my security measures had stopped...and how would my enemies not notice that...? ...Or resist such an _opportunity_ for revenge..."

Vinyaya and Trouble didn't say a word, but looked a little sick to have it put that way.

Holly frowned, confused and more than a little unnerved. If what Artemis was saying was true. . .that mean Trouble and Vinyaya had dropped the security and used Artemis as. . .

"I was bait," Artemis spat furiously. "You used me and my family as _bait, _to catch her."

Suddenly everything was clear. Holly slipped her hand down Artemis' forearm to hold his slim and shaking fingers.

Generally, Artemis kept a cold, disinterested persona. It was better that way. When he was mad enough to spit, he assumed a blank mask, and his words grew more cutting. There was a specific reason for this, besides keeping his strong reputation. No, the simple reason was, that raging fire inside of him could burn so fiercely it frightened him, flame so intense it could melt that cold, icy surface.

When ice met flame, it melted.

"Fowl," Vinyaya began in a low voice, "we never_, ever_ meant for things to turn out this way..."

"Check your teams, Commanders," Artemis said bitterly, turning away so they couldn't see the moisture in his eyes, threatening to spill over. "Check to see if you've succeeded and finally caught Opal Koboi with your brilliant plan."


	3. Water

Water

水

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**

* * *

**

**I.**

For five months previously, L.E.P. and Section 8 had been frantic. Opal Koboi was at large, and laughingly flaunted her spot as Public Enemy Number One on the list with frequent demonstrations on large fairy cities. Atlantis had been hit particularly hard, with three missile attacks and severe cracks in the Outer Wall, which had caused serious flooding.

The recent traitorous acts of a certain Ark Sool had also left the fairy police paranoid. With Sool's inside influence and knowledge, a dangerously long-term Haven power black-out had swept the city. Sool had been detained, but there had been several close calls. For one, Qwan swore his left buttock would never be the same; Sool had clipped him with a round of a Softnose laser. And several LEPrecon personnel had been sat on by the gnome in the process of detaining, receiving cracked ribs and such. All the way to prison, Sool ranted something about "damn demons" and "world domination." They'd also caught such words as "Koboi" and "the plan."

Commanders Kelp and Vinyaya had been desperate to catch Opal before more damage could ensue. The next close call might be even closer.

* * *

****************

**II.**

************

Holly followed Artemis at a safe distance—just in case he fell down or staggered, she told herself, so she could catch him. He still looked weak. And pale. And furious. His hands were shaking with violent tremors.

He stopped with his back to her. She came up beside him, and, looking up, saw his eyes were half-lidded but unmistakably bright. There were dark smudges in a ring around where he'd rubbed them. Ash streaks.

"Artemis…" she murmured, shocked, "you're…."

"Almost crying, yes." His tone was almost wry, but his voice was unsteady; he passed a hand over his face, breathing raspy.

"But…you never…" She shut her mouth at that point.

Tentatively, she leaned forward and entwined her fingers with his, waiting. She'd been through this before. Artemis had too, she knew. But she knew something about this, probably more than he did, although he'd dealt with the loss many times before, in his own way. At some point or another he'd lost everyone close to him, far more times than Holly had. His solution, the one that hurt the least, was to disconnect the emotion until he couldn't feel it anymore.

Holly knew the real answer. You just needed someone to hold on to.

"I'm glad you think that, Holly," he muttered, head bent, still breathing. _But you never cry. _He took a deep breath and looked up, toward a tree in the distance where he could just make out three sitting figures under the branches. The taller one held the other two in her lap, rocking gently, bent.

"I'll have to remember that…" he said to himself. _Remember to keep up appearances. _

He'd always been the one to set aside his own emotions. Do what had to be done. That trait had horrified most of the people he met often enough. Domovoi had understood—he'd had to do the same thing often enough. Artemis could almost feel it under his skin, a little click as he mentally pushed the rage, fire, water, tears away, leaving a hollow feeling. Or maybe that _was_ the feeling? He couldn't tell anymore, and he didn't want to.

_Do what had to be done._ He looked down, face dry.

"Holly?"

She squeezed his fingers—he'd never tell her, but her gentle always hurt—and smiled. "Yes?"

"Tell Foaly something for me."

_"What?" _Well, _that_ was unexpected. Holly almost dropped his hand in surprise. "Why Foaly?" she asked, bemused.

Artemis almost smiled. His lips twitched, ever so slightly. She'd always had a talent for that. It was almost _her _Artemis again, the one who was all himself, just Arty, and not a genius or criminal or mastermind.

But then the normal detached face was back.

"Well…" Artemis licked his cracked lips and continued, "as it turned out…_Opal"—_he gestured to the manor behind them, whose fire had been quenched by a mixture of fairy technology and regular water—"didn't cause this. She's not even here. So Foaly should know that the _Commanders"_—there was incredible contempt in his tone—"are chasing at shadows."

There were a lot of questions she could have asked, but she breathed, "But you told them—"

"I lied." His voice was so cold she shivered. "They'd hardly believe me otherwise. People tend to believe my lies more than my truths, I've learned."

"Artemis, then _who was it?" _Anxiety, pity, beginnings of anger.

His face twisted. Slowly, his hand slid out of Holly's, and drifted up to feel his side, where there was a tiny scar that would stay for the rest of his days. Magic didn't heal everything.

"Fairies don't use bullets," he said, as if that explained everything.

One pointed ear twitched. "You don't mean…" Holly began slowly. Who else held a grudge against Artemis, wasn't one of the People, shot guns wide of the mark and missed the heart? "How did _he _escape?" she whispered.

Artemis gave a small, terrible smile. For the first time that night, he truly frightened her, and she stepped backwards, once. This wasn't _her _Artemis…

"I have absolutely no idea, Holly," Artemis said, looking at the now-dark manor. There was a fire reflected in his eyes, from a memory, or a word spoken in the past. It was dusk, twilight, and the sun was setting. "But it hardly matters now, does it?" he added softly.

One more small smile at something Holly couldn't see, and then he turned and began walking over the grass."Tell Foaly for me," he called over his shoulder, as he made his way slowly to the three silhouettes in the distance.

Holly nodded, but Artemis didn't turn around to see it.

"Goodbye, Holly."

He didn't once look back.

She watched as he reached Juliet and the twins under the tree. He sat down silently just beside Juliet, and Myles crawled in his lap. Gently, ever so gently, Artemis laid his head on Juliet's shoulder—she was still taller than him, despite it all, and probably would stay that way—and held Myles close to him.

With a little gasp, Juliet wrapped both arms around his thin shoulders and cried in earnest.

She'd just needed someone to hold on to. He knew that. Artemis closed his eyes and waited.

****************

* * *

**III.**

There were people flowing all around her. Elves, sprites, just a sea of faces swirling and blurring around her. What a sight she must be. Her heart felt like it would tear.

Sounds everywhere, running together in a murmur. But there was one sound that she could hear, somehow reaching through crowd to her ears all too clearly, like a clear thought in the middle of a battle. It scraped at her ears.

There was the touch of a hand on her arm. "Daylight's coming," Commander Kelp said, face blurry. "Come on, Holly."

As if in a daze, she turned and followed him. But even when they neared the shuttle, the rending sound still echoed in her ears. Scraping.

Holly had heard somewhere that if the ear hears a sound in a high enough frequency, the heart stops.

She wondered if Juliet's stifled, wet, rasping gasps, holding on to Artemis and Beckett like a lifeline, while Artemis stayed completely still, eyes closed, was that sound.


	4. Earth

.

* * *

Earth

地

* * *

**Fowl Manor, Past. **

_Artemis had been playing finger paints with the twins, and Juliet had been laughing as Beckett smeared "war paint" on Arty's face. The parents and Domovoi had been_ _upstairs, sleeping, because it was nearly bedtime, after all. The twins didn't seem to realize that. _

_Juliet had run out to get a camera at Myle's cry of, "Camma! Camma!" Artemis playfully protested as Beckett sat on his stomach, giggling mischievously the whole time. Myles was in charge of sitting on Arty's knees. __Artemis was laughing so hard he didn't have the strength to heave them off. Not that he particularly minded._

Couldn't he see it? Couldn't he? The memory was far too clear. It was etched in his mind, permanently. He could see it perfectly, would for the rest of his life…

_The twins had had a change of heart and were wiping off Artemis' war paint (which had been messily applied and somehow covered half his face in sloppy kitty-whiskers) with baby wipes, while Artemis had alternately spluttered and laughed. Beckett had finally declared: "All clean!" and Artemis was getting up_—

_There was a man in the doorway. _

_Artemis shoved the twins behind him, leaping to his feet. _

_"Little Arty," the man said. He was smiling. "Artemis Fowl."_

_"Spiro," Artemis said, warily. _

_A glint in Spiro's hand. A metallic glint_—_a gun. _Artemis stiffened. _This was a madman. How had he escaped? Juliet should come down the steps any moment_—

_"I've come for something I should have had a long time ago," Spiro said pleasantly. An excitement hummed in his voice. "I missed last time, didn't I? I've always been a bad shot…"_

_The weapon drifted up to point at Artemis' torso. _

_"Artemis Fowl, you should never have crossed me," Spiro said, satisfied. The businessman was grinning. "I've always told you you would regret it, and today I collect on that promise. This is for six years of prison. A bullet for each year."_

_An electric current _sparked _underneath Artemis' skin. It was almost like static _electricity_, tracing upwards from the ground below to vibrate under his skin. Was it fear?_ Heart fluttered_. There was no time for thought_—

_Six shots were fired. Only one hit. _

_The impact knocked_ _Artemis violently backwards. _

_As he staggered, three things registered in Artemis' mind at that moment. _

_One, there was an acrid stench of smoke in the air. Somewhere in the manor, there was a fire. Caused by Spiro. At the speed the flames were moving, there must have been gasoline or some other flammable splashed on the ground_—

_Two, the twins were _screaming_, and Spiro's weapon was shifting aim_—

_And three, the static electricity under his skin suddenly rushed up from the earth, through Artemis' arm, and burst from his fingertips in the form of_ blue sparks_._

_The blue current arced through the air elegantly, to hit Jon Spiro straight in the chest. There was a sizzling sound, a brief hiccup as Spiro's eyes widened. _

_And then a rushing in Artemis' ears, as the world seemed to tilt and deposit him, down, down, still with a thrumming under his skin and in his heart…_

* * *

**Present. **

_I must have blacked out_, Artemis thought. _That is the only explanation._

Artemis woken up sometime later with the twins shaking him, sobbing and coughing. The rest had been rather straight forward. Just get the twins out. Avoid the flames. He hadn't thought about or seen Spiro's body.

_It was magic. _

Those blue sparks must have been magic. Real magic, not the stolen variety he had been dabbling with; those kind had always given him headaches.

The static electricity—or _magic_—had felt natural. Like an extension of the earth. Exactly what Holly had described when Artemis had pressed her for details.

But it couldn't be magic. All logic told him no. But his emotions told him yes.

_Why hadn't the magic healed him?_ Logic argued. Holly's magic did for her. Even when she was unconscious, as long as she had some in her tank, her magic acted on its own and healed her wounds. If it was actually magic that had protected Artemis, why hadn't he woken up with nothing but a scar in his chest?

_It's not the same kind of magic_, the non-rational side said_. It's your own kind. _

Human magic?

Unheard of. Humans didn't respect the earth.

Artemis almost snorted, but stopped himself—Juliet and the twins were sleeping peacefully on the grass beside him.

He was thinking like a fairy. Fairies believed that humans had lost their magic from how they treated the earth. More likely, humans hadn't needed it as much as fairies, who were much smaller and therefore lower on the food chain. Magic _was_ connected to the earth, but it wasn't connected or affected by emotions.

Was it? His emotions argued. Logic tossed aside.

Artemis sighed to himself and lay backwards, painfully. Assuming he _did_ have magic, solving his little puzzle, what good would it do them? Half the family were. . .gone. . .and magic wouldn't bring them back. He had to take care of the family he had left.

Artemis glanced over. Juliet's face was peaceful in a way it never was when she was awake. Artemis hoped that crying on his shoulder had, or would, help her with whatever turmoil she was feeling. He didn't have much experience in that area. His approach to emotions was much different, and less healthy, supposedly.

He closed his eyes.

_What to do…? We have to live somewhere. We could rebuild the manor, and live here_. Emotions recoiled at that idea_. No, then. _

Logic decided to intervene. _We'll go to the Paradizos…It makes sense. We could fly to France._ Artemis had no doubt the Paradizos would gladly take them in. The Fowls had visited them before, and vice versa, and they absolutely loved children. They would have had more children than simply Beau and Minerva if not for a tragic accident that had occured with Mrs. Paradizo some years back.

_What to do…?_

The fairies had to pay.

The thought threw Artemis completely. It sounded like a line from Opal, or Cudgeon, or Spiro. Vengeance. Repayment for a betrayal. Not an emotion Artemis was accustomed to. It had no logic in it, after all.

But then again…

_Logic, _he thought. He flexed a hand, and a faint blue sheen exuded from his palm. _I fear it's beginning to hold less sway. _


End file.
